<p>Note: Siemens doesn’t take social science projects, but otherwise, yes, you can submit to all three. Further note that ISEF primarily involves a display board; Intel STS and Siemens only require a board if you get to the STS Finalist or Siemens Regional Finalist levels. Siemens RFs also have to prepare a 12 minute Power Point presentation. Depending on your geographic region, a Siemes Regional Finalist may have as little as two weeks to prepare both the backboard and presentation. Just something to keep in mind as you suubmit to competitions and work on APs, applications, etc.</p>
<p>S spent about six weeks actually working on his project per se; however, he spent about two years in self-study and about four months with a mentor getting to the point where he understood the background well enough to come up with an interesting result. One caveat – his work was very theoretical. He didn’t need a lab or supervision, and in fact didn’t tell his mentor his results until he had the proof written up and bullet-proof. </p>
<p>Jessie is absolutely right about the importance of the prof network. Every prof S spoke with in April (as he was deciding where to attend) knew S’s mentor on a personal basis. S is looking at going into a small, specialized academic community. Work smart, be honest, treat people fairly. They may hold your future in their hands one day!</p>